Ironic Love
by Eri-Tuure
Summary: Kikyo finally forgives Inuyasha and frees him to be with Kagome, but in his love for kikyo, he pushes Kagome away and she falls for Sesshoumaru. When he realizes his true feelings, will it be too late?
1. Goodbye Inuyasha

Disclaimer: I'm only going to say this in the beginning of this chapter so listen up. I do not own any of the Inuyasha characters that appear in the shows, movies or manga. That honor goes to Rumiko Takahashi. Any charaters that you see that are not in the shows, movies or manga are my own creations.

**Chapter 1: Goodbye Inuyasha**

The air was growing colder as the sun had set on Kagome. She was lying on the hard forest floor. She had done this every night for the last two months. The search for the shards of the shikon no tama was taking up more and more of her time. She sorely wished to visit her family. Inuyasha had been pushing the group to their limits. He had also been pushing himself too hard.

'You would think that he would have eased up a little now that the band of seven is gone..' Kagome sighed to herself.

She turned her eyes to Inuyasha who was at present sitting on a high tree branch, staring at the moon. Something was bothering him. She felt as her heart went out to him and could no longer lay down and watch him. She slowly stood up and walked to him. He was too distracted to notice her approaching.

"Inuyasha?" She said, being sure not to wake the others.

"Go back to sleep." was his grumbled answer.

Kagome rolled her eyes. This was the typical beginning to almost all their conversations. Kagome would try to start a conversation and he would shoot it down. She stepped closer, determined to speak with him. She never took her eyes off him.

"Nothing is wrong. Stop fussin." He said still staring at the moon.

Kagome huffed. "I am not fussing! Something is on your mind now spill it!"

Inuyasha had been through much in the last few days. Between the final battle against Bankotsu until this moment he had faced more than he should have had to. He sighed and began to relay to her what is was that was bothing him.

FLASHBACK

Inuyasha was walking through the forest. He had seen Kikyo's soul collectors and was following them to her. He found her standing in front of the sacred tree he had been sealed to many years ago. Her face wore a pained expression as she ran a finger slowly down the tree's scar where Inuyasha had been.

"Kikyo.." Inuyasha whispered taking a step forward.

"You have come." She said, masking her emotions.

Inuyasha slowly came closer to her as she turned to face him. Once the distance between them had been closed Inuyasha reached his arms out and pulled her into his embrace.

"I was worried about you. I haven't seen you since the fight at mount hakurei." He whispered into her ear.

He glanced down to see her face when he saw something he had not seen in her since she was alive. She looked as though she were ready to cry. He pulled away and looked her in the eyes, asking what was wrong.

"Inuyasha..." she began, fumbling with her words. "I am sorry."

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at her. "For what?"

Kikyo walked away from him and sat, leaning against the tree. He followed and sat in front of her on the ground.

"When I was on mount Hakurei I came across the mummied saint Hakushein. When Naraku raised his spirit from the dead into his body, he was filled with hatred and contempt. I spoke with him and he allowed me to free his soul from the hard feelings he held towards those who he had died for. I came to the realization that I too am harbouring such feelings towards you. Until I clear my conscious of these ill feelings, I will not be able to move on to the next world. I will be forever trapped to walk a world where time stands still for me." She paused a moment seeing comprehension flash through Inuyasha's eyes.

"I realize now that you never betrayed me. It was Naraku's doing. Forgive me for holding such feelings towards you."

"Kikyo..." He said softly before replying. "I forgive you."

Kikyo smiled. Those were the magic words she needed to hear. "Thank you. Now I will release you from your promise to protect me. I can move on to the next life Do not try to stop me. I have already over stayed my welcome in this world." At this she rose to her feet and stepped away from him. She drew an arrow and sent her energy into it. Inuyasha jumped to his feet to, expecting her to fire it at him. To his shock, she turned the arrow on herself, not to fire it, but to stab it straight through her heart.

"NOO!" He yelled as he watched her actions.

"Goodbye Inuyasha. Never forget me." She said, smiling to him before stabbing it through her heart, purifying her body and freeing her soul.

END FLASHBACK

Inuyasha looked down to Kagome, emotion shining in his eyes. He hadn't had the courage to speak of it to anyone until now. He couldn't bring himself to it.

Kagome was crying. She had known that Kikyo had passed away because she had felt her soul once again become whole, but she had not known the circumstances.

"Inuyasha..." She whispered, lowering her eyes to the ground. "I.." She could think of nothing else to say. She heard Inuyasha jump down from the tree and he came to stand in front of her. She lifted her eyes to his and wrapped her arms around his waist.

Inuyasha came down to her and when she embraced him, he returned the affection. Somehow, this felt so right and so wrong at the same time. He loved Kagome. He loved Kikyo. Kikyo was dead, yet somehow he felt he was betraying her by loving another. 'I promise Kikyo, I will never forget you..'. He brought Kagome closer to him and nuzzled his nose into her hair.

"Thank you Kagome..." He said, before quickly pulling away and turning from her.

Kagome was confused by his actions. She had had a brief glimpse of his soft side before he turned cold and pulled away. She assumed that it was because he felt like he was going against Kikyo's will by hugging her and it hurt her greatly, but she didn't take it personally. She knew he just needed to figure out his feelings. She turned and walked away herself, heading back to her blankets. Tomorrow she would wake and deal with this. When she could think more clearly. She yawned, stretched and lay herself down on the ground. She stole one more glance at Inuyasha who had retreated to her tree before closing her eyes to sleep. It would be a long night if she didn't.

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Eri: Ok, this is gonna kinda be a weird story. It's an Sess/Kag/Inu story. It starts off as Inu/Kag and turns into Sess/Kag. bear with me. I'm trying something different. Well, please review my chapter so far and lemme know what you think.


	2. Enter Sesshoumaru

Eri: Chapter two, here we go!

**Chapter 2:Enter Sesshoumaru**

Kagome woke to find she was the only one still asleep. The sun had risen to nearly right above her.

"Why did you guys let me sleep? You could have woken me up!" She yelled at them.

"We tired. You would just grunt and roll over." Sango said in response.

She rolled her eyes at her friends and rose to her feet, stretching her aching muscles. She turned her eyes to Inuyasha. He was still in his tree. 'I wonder if he slept at all...' She thought as she went to him. He didn't move at all when he saw her coming. He figured she'd just ask about how he slept.

Inuyasha heard a scratching noise and looked down. Much to his surprise, Kagome was climbing his tree! She wasn't exactly graceful about it, but she was making her way up to him faster than he'd thought she could. It wasn't long before she made it to where he was sitting. Inuyasha was staring at her, jaw as low as she'd ever seen it. Kagome started to laugh at the look on his face as she blew a stray strand of hair away that had fallen onto her face while she climbed.

"I used to do that alot as a kid." She said. "My little brother and I would chase each other around until one of us found a good tree, then we would race to see who could climb the fastest. I usually won because I have longer legs."

Inuyasha regained his composure as she spoke.

"Actually, it's kinda funny. I've been here in the feudal era so many times but the only time I've ever climbed a tree is when I saw you stuck to one the first time I came here." She said in thought.

Inuyasha crossed his arms. "If there is a point to you coming up here, I ain't seeing it yet."

Now it was Kagome's turn to cross her arms. "I came up here because I wanted to know why you didn't try to wake me! It's almost lunch time and no one woke me up yet!"

"Well, there wasn't really much point. Naraku got away for now and there is no immediate danger. We just have to wait until I catch his scent again."He answered her.

Kagome was shocked. It seemed that for now he was deciding to be patient until he found Naraku's scent. Although Kagome was still unsure what had caused this sudden change. He seemed subdued.

"Inuyasha. Tell me what's going on. You've been acting strangely for a while now. I mean, I know Kikyo passed away. I got the missing part of my soul back when she died, but her death wouldn't cause something like this. Not exactly anyways." She said, nearly starting to ramble.

"It's nothing."

"Inuyasha, don't make me say it."

Inuyasha cringed at the thought. He was too high up in the tree for that. Granted it was most likely an empty threat. If she did sit him, he would go straight through the branch that they were both sitting on. She would get hurt too. But then again, Kagome didn't exactly do the smartest things all the time. He caved. He told her everything that had happened that night. He couldn't look her in the eyes. There were two reasons for this. One was that he could not bare to see what emotions she would be feeling, and the other was that he refused to show any of his.

Kagome couldn't believe what she was hearing. Kikyo had willingly given up trying to take Inuyasha to hell. She had released him from her promise. He had felt helpless to save her. He had to watch the woman he loved die in front of his eyes a second time. Kagome couldn't imagine the pain he must be feeling. She reached a hand up and touched his face gently. Still he refused to look at her. Kagome did not understand. Usually he would look when she did this but not today. He would not look her in the eyes.

'I would have followed you in death Kikyo.' He thought to himself. He was still refusing to look at Kagome, even though now she had her arms wrapped around his waist. He only just placed his arms around her shoulders. He still felt guilty hugging her.

"Don't worry Inuyasha. Some day you will see her again." Kagome said reassuringly.

Inuyasha smiled slightly at that thought. He picked Kagome up in his arms suddenly and lept from the tree, placing her on the ground. He glanced into her eyes for a moment then walked away.

"Come on guys, Let's get moving." He said.

"But Inuyasha, we don't even know where to start looking." Shippou protested.

"Anywhere is better than here." was Inuyasha's response.

'Anywhere is better than here.' Kagome repeated in her head. 'So he would rather walk aimlessly than continue to sit in that tree with me? Ouch.' Kagome felt as though someone had grabbed a hold of her heart and squeezed it really hard. It wasn't quite a feeling of heart break, but it certainly did not make her feel good knowing that Inuyasha would rather not let her console him.

They had to hurry to pack up because Inuyasha had already started walking without them. Kagome had a hard time getting her sleeping bag into her yellow backpack so sango helped her to stuff it in there. Kagome had seemed subdued to Sango the whole time but she never said anything. Sango assumed that it had something to do with Inuyasha. It usually did.

The days began to pass more quickly but still there was no sign of Naraku. They had been travelling aimlessly for a good month now. Kagome's back was sore from sleeping on the ground and Inuyasha was becoming more distant from her by the day. It had gotten to the point where she felt that Inuyasha no longer even liked her as a friend. She felt betrayed. he felt that there wasn't even any point in going to tell him that because he would ignore her.

Kagome walked over to Sango who was keeping a careful eye on Miroku.

"I want to go home. I've wanted to go home for a month now. I'm tired of wandering around waiting for Naraku. He doesn't have the guts to show himself just yet so why bother looking for him. He's only gonna run when we get closer." She said.

"I agree. I think it's time we stopped looking, then he'll come to us and we won't have to work to find him. I think we could all use a rest anyways." Sango answered, looking ahead to Inuyasha. He seemed to have slowed down a bit. "Kagome, Something is different with Inuyasha. I don't like it."

Kagome told her what had been bothering him and she gasped. Kagome nodded and continued with what he had been doing to her since then and fell silent. She had a sudden feeling she was being watched, but she couldn't place her finger on where it was coming from.

"Inuyasha. You should keep a closer eye on those you are to protect. I could have easily killed them." said a deep calm voice.

Kagome jumped and Inuyasha stopped dead in his tracks. "Get your ass out where I can see you Sesshoumaru!" Inuyasha yelled.

"Turn around."

Inuyasha did as he was told and was surprised to see Sesshoumaru standing not one inch behind him. He nearly jumped out of his skin in an attempt to get away from him.

"What do you want Sesshoumaru?" he asked, drawing tetsusaiga from it's sheath.

Sesshoumaru cast a glance at Kagome for a brief moment before returning his eyes to Inuyasha. "I came to defeat Naraku."

"In case ya haven't noticed, HE AIN'T HERE!" Inuyasha yelled.

"Not yet he isn't. He is coming for the miko. I will be the one to destroy him for trying to ruin my honor." He answered calmly, once more glancing at Kagome, who stood with her mouth hanging wide open.

"Hey! Wait a minute! Why is he coming for me! What did I do!" Kagome said, obviously angry that Naraku was after her.

"You can sense the jewel shards can you not?" Sesshoumaru responded.

"Well...yea, but he already has most of it. We have the other half." She answered, confused.

"No. The wolf still has two."

'Oh right, I forgot about Koga! He wants me to hunt down Koga!' She thought.

Sesshoumaru could see the comprehension in the girls eyes and was impressed that she had caught on to what he was telling her. Naraku wanted her so he could find Koga and kill him for his shards. In the process of getting her he had planned to take the rest. How convenient.

"But he may not come for days." Sango said.

"That is why, much to my dislike, this Sesshoumaru will be staying here."

"WHAT!" was the collective answer from the group. Sesshoumaru had to restrain himself from killing them.

'damn it. If she were not the bait, I would kill her right now.' He thought to himself. "Do anything stupid and I will not hesitate to kill you half breed." He said to his brother, who was trying to sneak up behind him.

"Sit!" yelled Kagome.

Thump.

"Damn." Inuyasha said.

"Well Lord Sesshoumaru, If you can promise not to kill anyone and try to put up with us, I will promise to try to keep the peace myself." Kagome said, glaring at Inuyasha's limp form.

Sesshoumaru had to struggle to contain his amusement at seeing his brother splayed out on the ground. He had never seen such a subduing spell. He would have to keep an eye on this ningen. She might just prove to be a good source of entertainment to him. 'Where did that thought come from?' He thought to himself. Such thoughts were foreign to him. 'I will make sure such thoughts do not happen again.'

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Eri:Woot woot! Chapter 2! This story is fun. Challenging, but fun. well, please review and let me know what you think.

Kagome: I must admit, it is fun to sit Inuyasha.

Thump.

Kagome: Oops! Sorry Inuyasha, that one wasn't on purpose. But it was still funny. Hehe

Inuyasha: Growls


End file.
